Dialogue on Diversity continues its 2021 programing on  September 17th, 1:00 - 3:30pm,  returning to the venerable and primary topic: the tasks and rewards of the entrepreneur, the vital center of energy in a modern economy. The Webinar format has been all the vogue since the contagion ravaging the country has afforded little alternative. “When calmer times return.” Dialogue President Ma. Cristina Caballero avers, “we will doubtless keep at least half our programing in this novel format.” September 17 ^th is the magic day on which our star-studded ensemble of experts take the Webinar floor in their respective offices and living rooms.  

2021 Entrepreneurship/IT Conference Webinar

Entrepreneurs & Economic Recovery: A New Model for 2021

In Celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month

Friday, Sept. 17th, 2021

1:00pm - 3:30pm

a Zoom webinar hosted by Dialogue on Diversity

H.E. Thelma Phillip-Browne An international outlook, set forth by Her Excellency Thelma Phillip-Browne, Ambassador of St. Kitts and Nevis, focuses the remarkable island pair heading the Lesser Antilles chain. St. Kitts is the workman’s English for Christopher, the name pronounced by Columbus himself on these engaging dots of beauty ca. 1500, when his ship brushed this island chain. With its regularly elected Prime Minister and unicameral legislature, the islands are the microcosm — the population rides most recently at a modest 53,000 souls — of the political philosophy laid out by the hemisphere’s larger republics. The island federation has been independent of England since 1983, still remaining part of the British Commonwealth, with a Governor General appointed by the Queen.

Hon. Alejandra Y. Castillo Capping a career, still in its ascendant, in the several entrepreneurial agencies of the federal government, Alejandra Castillo has just assumed, upon senate confirmation, the new post of Assistant Secretary of the Department of Commerce, in charge of its newest division, the Economic Development Administration. Ms. Castillo had served from 2008 in the International Trade Administration, DOC, and from 2014 presided over the Minority Business Development Agency.  Her experience stands a nationwide clientèle in good stead: Ms. Castillo’s new mentoring vehicle promises to be a key agency in the upward glide of the the economy in the recovey phase that is to follow the late COVID crash.

Heidi Sheppard Attending as Project Director for the Disrict of Columbia‘s Women’s Business Center, Heidi Sheppared, by turns, teaches, coaches, and encoutrages, in any order, a flow of Washington metro entrepreneurs, many scurrying about with dreams of their own enterprise and in need of the boost of knowledge and confidence that good will and wise counsel can afford. We are delighted to present Ms. Sheppard as the authority dispensing all three to the needs of the new entrepreneurs surfacing in the wake of the clearing storm, moving aside the detritus of the late Pandemic, and getting down to business in greatest earnest.

Brigitta Toruño  Having plunged ahead in the bracing atmosphere of the now waning COVID-induced recession, Ms. Toruño’s world-class multilateral translation service, ensconced in the stately Lansdowne, Virginia landscape, musters a network of translators with renderings of documents in 200 languages and counting. While the Americas are the chief theaters, with Spanish and Portuguese materials in the lead, the capabilities on offer reach beyond, and the vagaries of the business cycle have little effect on the firm’s fortunes.

Michael Veve The master of business law and regulation in the modern universe of enterp  rise, Michael Veve, a broadly experienced business law expert, with roots in the Spanish as well as English legal universe, offers shrewd and often witty maxims that will, if attended to, keep the wavering entrepreneur on the proper and profitable track. Mr. Veve makes another of his not infrequent, and always very welcome, sallies into our discussions.

Kristin Sharpe A standout creative personality, Kristin Sharpe built her IT firm as founder and chief, selling it at length, 14 years of robust revenues recorded, and staying to supervise the transition. Then sailing with family about the Caribbean; she has now directly taken up a volunteer post with the SCORE mentoring organization, engaging with a parade of eager neophytes in the entrepreneurial whirl, with advice for both the novice and the perplexed long-time player.